Apparatus for heating the human body without using any external power



May l, 1951 E. L. LEssARD APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE HUMAN BODY WITHOUT USING ANY EXTERNAL POWER Filed June 2, 1949 l'cient operation of the apparatus. ierably placed on the back of the human body Patented May 1, 1951 APPARATUS FOR. HEATING THE HUMAN BODY 'WITHOUT USING ANY EXTERNAL POWER Ernest L. Lessard, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada Application June 2, 1949, Serial No. 96,648

In `Canada December 17, 1947 Prior art `In the past, many attempts have been made to utilize the thermal properties of the air eX- haled vfrom the lungs to supply heat to other porf tions of the human body. These attempts not having been based on scientific principles and a thoroughknowledg'e of the human anatomy have not proven entirely satisfactory.

`In manyv cases, the design of the apparatus employed was such that the heat of the air was dissipated before it came in contact with the body and further the portions of the body to which the heat was transmitted, in most cases the hands or the feet, were not conducive to the efficient transmission of heat to the entire body.

Applicants development It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an apparatus whereby the warm air exhaled from the lungs is transmitted to a particular portion of the human body whereby the heat is transmitted to other parts of the body. More specically, this is accomplished by aparticular devicevfor warming the body which comprises an air-localizing cup having a substantially flat rim 'adapted to hug a relatively dat .portion of the back of the body to surround a minor area to ,be warmed. The cup is adapted when in use to stand ofi from the body to form' with the portion of the body surrounded by the rim an air concentrating chamber. The cup is formed with an air inlet and the rim portion is sufficiently inflexible normally to retain its form.

.i The device'is also provided with means for conveying air to the inlet whereby warm air may beblown into the chamber andpthus concentrated ona part of the body.

y The location on the human body on which the cup is' placed is of prime importance to the ef- This is prefat about the fifth dorsal vertebrae or between thejscapulae. This specific part of the human body is known as the heating zone and when a source ofheat is applied to this zone, the heat is transmitted to .other parts of the body.

Description (ICI. 126-204) Figure 3 is a sectional view in side elevation of the preferred form of the apparatus as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view partially in section of the open cup to further illustrate the construction thereof.

With particular reference to Figure 1, illustrating a preferred construction of the device positioned in operative contact with the human body, the apparatus consists of an open cup I0 of resilient material connected to a pair of ilexible conduit tubes I2 which are connected to a mouthpiece I4.

The flexible tubes I2 are preferably of natural rubber and have been molded so that the elongated flexible vconduits are shaped centrally so as to provide a substantially U-shaped shoulder engaging portion.'

The open cup is preferably formed so as to have a substantially hemispherical and of concavo-convex form terminating in an outwardly projecting bead or rim I 6 which surrounds the periphery of the cup so as to provide air conning contact with the point of application. Preferably the wall I8 of the cup lil is formed so as to provide a protruding tongue-like portion or projection 2B which serves as an attaching means. The wall I8 of the cup Il] is also formed so vas to provide a pair of tube-like extensions 22 and 24 that are adapted to be connected to the flexible conduit tubes I2 in order to transmit the air from the mouthpiece I4.

Preferably the mouthpiece I4 is made as being in two portions 36, 38 that are threadably connected. The portions 36, 38 are of cylindrical form with the portion 3% having an annular valve seat 26 formed at one end and including a central bore 30. The valve seat 26 is formed so as to provide a centrally disposed opening 28 for the admission of air anda disc-like clappet valve 32y ts loosely in the bore 30 and is retained against the valve seat 26 by a spring 34. The spring 343is retained in position by engagement over the annular shoulder 35 or any other suitable means.

A flexible main conduit tube 40 engages over the lower portion 38 of the mouthpiece. This iiexible conduit tube 40 divides centrally into two,

tubes 4I of smaller diameter. The tubes 4I are joined to the flexible conduit tubes I2 by a metallic joining sleeve 42. This form of joint is also employed to join the tubular extensions 22 of the cup I0 to the opposite end of the flexible tubes I2.

At the base of the open cup II'I,` the wall I8 extends outwardly at 43 and inwardly at I6. There is thus formed an annular groove or pocket 46 in which is positioned a resilient wire 48 so as to reinforce the outer peripheryof the cup rim I6. It has been found that the apparatus is more enicient when the cup is not applied dire'ctly to the skin. In normal use the cup is fastened to the undergarment of the wearer. The cup being made of exible material is col= lapsible and is thus adapted to assume a relatively flat form under pressure of the wearers garments when not in use. However, so that the apparatus may be applied without attachment to the outer garments of the wearer, a fabric masking disc or cap 50 is provided that fits over the open face of the cup and is retained in position by the engagement of a band of resilient material surrounding the marginal edge with the resilient wire 48 reinforcing the cup rim I6 as shown in Figure 4. This masking disc is preferably of a closely woven material, for example, cotton.

In the drawings, the apparatus is shown as having two conduit tubes. The present invention also contemplates an apparatus in which there is only one conduit tube extending from the mouthpiece to the open cup.

Operation In operation the apparatus is employed as shown in Figure 1. vThe cup IIJ is attached to the undergarment of the wearer in a position relative to the human torso so that the cup connes the warm air to the body of the wearer in the region of the fifth dorsal vertebrae or between t'he scapulae. When the air is exhaled from the lungs into the mouthpiece I4, it is conveyed through the conduit tubes l2 to the cup l and is prevented from returning through the mouthpiece by the clappet valve 32 and spring 34. It has lbeen found in actual use that a person wearing the present apparatus has only to blow a few puffswof warm air into the mouthpiece and immediately a feeling of warmth is felt. This application is a continuation-impart of application Serial No. 19,764, filed April 8, 1948, now abandoned.

I claim:

1. A .device for warming the body, comprising,

an a'irD-localizing/ cup having a substantially flat rim adapted to hug a relatively fiat portion of the back of the body to surround a minor area to be warmed, said cup being adapted when in use to stand off from the body to form with the portion of the body surrounded by the rim an air 'concentrating chamber, the cup being formed wit-h an air inlet, the rim portion 'being sufficiently inflexible normally to retain its form, and means for conveying air to the inlet, whereby w'arm air may be blown in'to said chamber and thus 'concentrated on a part of the body, the cup being concavo-convex, hemispherical and of resilient material and adapted to assume a relatively iiat forni under pressure of the wearers garments when not in use, but adapted to assume a position removed from 'the body so as to 'form said chamber when in use, the rim being substantially circular and including an inwardlyextending flange adapted to form a. base 'for contact with the surface of the body, there being means forming an outwardly-extending pocket in the cup intervening the cup and flange and a resilient ring vin said pocket adapted to support the cup adjacent the flange.

2. A device for warming the body, comprising, an ar-localizing cup having a substantially flat rim `adapted to hug a relatively flat portion of the back `of the body to surround a minor area to be warmed, said cup being formed with an air-inlet, and adapted when in use to stand oif from the body to form with the portion of the body surrounded by the rim an air-concentrating chamber, said cup being of resilient material and being substantially hemispherical and concavo-convex in form, said rim being a ange on said cup, the portion of the cup adjacent the flange being out-turned and then in-turned to form the flange, a resilient ring located in the pocket formed between the out-turned and inturned portions thereby to retain the rim in extended position, the rim portion being normally sufficiently iniiexible to retain its outline and means for conveying air to the inlet whereby warm air may be blown into said chamber, and thus concentrated on a part of the body.v

3. A device, according to 'claim 2, which is provided with a cap of textile material -iitting over said rim and extending across the opening and enclosed by said rim, the cap adapted to rest against the body of the wearer.

4QA device for warming the body, comprising, an air-'localizing cup having a substantially nat rim adapted 'to hug a relatively flat portion of the back of the body to surround a minor area to be warmed, said cup being adapted when in use to stand off from the body to form with the portion of the body surrounded by the rim an air concentrating chamber, the cup being of resilient material and concave-convex in form, the cup being formed with an air-inlet, and a rim portion which is a flange on the cup, the portion of the cup adjacent the flange being out-turned and then iii-turned to form the flange, the rim being retained in extended position by a resilient ring located between the out-turned and in-turned portions, a pair of exible extending tubes from said air-inlet and being adapted to extend over the shoulders of the user, the end of the tubes remote from the cup being connected to a flexible main conduit tube connected to an inflation head adapted to be Aplaced in the mouth of the wearer, said first named tubes being adapted to support the cup adjacent the upper portion of the flange, 'the cup also being provided adjacent its lower portion with an outwardly-extendin'g projection adapted to be engaged by a fastener extending from a garment to retain the lower part of the cup against the body.

ERNEST L. LESSARD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 185,962 Steiger Feb. 6, 1877 400,261 Small Mar. '26, 1889 596,171 Meinhardt Dec. 28, 1897 912,527 Batter Feb. 16, 1909 1,339,510 Hoffman May 11, 1920 1,775,704 Suter Sept. 16, '1930 2,221,822 Tays Nov. 19, 1940 2,424,502 Polite July 22, 1947 2,429,234 Miller Oct. 21, 1947 2,453,364 Fears Nov. 9, 194:8 2,460,269 l Appeldoorn Feb. 1, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,564 Great Britain of 1910 75,337 Switzerland July 2, 1917 176,552 Great Britain Mar. 16, '1922 677,600 France i Dec. 18, 1929 

